Yes, they are big books.

This hobbit looks absolutely gorgeous. The endpapers alone!

Yes these are large books and since i like sitting in a corner of the sofa when I read these are perfect for reading and in fact the only limited deluxes in my collection that I have actually used for reading.

The late Stu wrote:

Trotter wrote:

onthetrail wrote:

The general consensus among those who bought it (Twitter, FB, Reddit) is that the Lord of the Rings while very beautiful, was overpriced.

I bought it and I don't think that.

To be fair, onthetrail said "general consensus", not that every individual thought that. At the time, the majority of social media threads called out the pricing (with probably an equal amount of posts questioning the aesthetics, which are definitely "marmite").

The pricing of this one has come in around where I thought it would. I actually thought it might come in at £720, like Beowulf. Not because I think that is an appropriate price, but because I was expecting them to charge the most utterly over-the-top price they could get away with.

Price-wise, inflation-adjusted, this Hobbit is a fraction more than the super-deluxe Children of Hurin was at launch (£570 adjusted). Personally, I think the SD CoH is the better product (by quite a margin), but in that context the pricing of the new book makes vague sense.

I've never owned a Folio book, but just browsing their website, their Limited Editions are typically around $500 for single books. Some are a little less, some are a lot more. Assuming the LOTR set is of similar quality, $1500 for the three-book set seems about right. There's no way I would pay what it's going for now on after-market but if I could grab a set for $1500 still I'd do it in a heartbeat!

rosshm16 wrote:

Am I reading correctly that these books (plus the same-style LOTR set) are 12" tall? That's a big book!

They are impractically large and honestly a pain in the arse to look at because of the single large slipcase. With LoTR the main problem is the fairly flimsy (for the weight of the books) slipcase and safely accessing the books. Individual lined cloth slipcases would work much better for these (I plan on making some at some point).

Images from the Folio Society

The Folio Society has announced a limited edition release of JRR Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit', publishing November 19th, 2024, with only 1,000 copies available. Priced at £600, this edition is crafted as a companion to the sold-out limited edition of ‘The Lord of the Rings'.

https://entertainment-focus.com/2024/1 ... -illustrated-by-alan-lee/

This is the dedication page text

THIS EDITION OF THE HOBBIT HAS BEEN TYPESET AT THE FOLIO SOCIETY IN DANTE, WITH TESTAMENT AS DISPLAY, THE TEXT HAS BEEN PRINTED BY L.E.G.O. IN VICENZA, ITALY, ON MUNKEN PURE PAPER WITH SILVER TOP EDGES, AND QUARTER-BOUND BY THEM IN SPACCATO DI MONTONE LEATHER WITH CLOTH SIDES FEATURING AN INSET LABEL WITH AN ILLUSTRATION BY ALAN LEE. TWENTY-EIGHT COLOUR PLATES ARE PRINTED ON VELTIQUE PAPER AND TIPPED WITHIN DECORATIVE BORDERS. ORIGINAL MAPS, SURROUNDED BY
A BORDER BY ALAN LEE, ARE HOUSED IN A CLOTH CASE, AND A SEPARATE GICLÉE PRINT IS PRESENTED IN A FOLDER OF SIRIO PEARL PAPER. THE CLOTH SLIPCASE HAS AN ILLUSTRATIVE LINING AND IS BLOCKED WITH A DESIGN BY THE ARTIST. THIS LIMITATION PAGE HAS BEEN PRINTED LETTERPRESS BY HAND AND EYE IN LONDON ON TINTORETTO CEYLON CUMINO PAPER.

THE EDITION IS LIMITED TO I,000 COPIES, SIGNED AND NUMBERED BY ALAN LEE. WITH 25 LETTERED COPIES HORS DE COMMERCE.

I am not that knowledgeable on the history of the Folio Society but has it become a trend with the FS - since the ownership changes and probably since the last long-term chairman left in 2015 plus the changes from membership to your average online bookship? - to publish top tier limited editions that the general public can neither afford nor actually get because bookdealers the world over will buy copies of them to sell immediately afterwards with a hefty extra charge on Ebay?

I am not questioning quality publishing and the prices needed to produce these publications but there is a difference between doing high quality editions at a reasonable price and intentionally producing for - essentially - a luxury market. And that's what I am seeing with the Folio Society in recent years. Am I wrong in assuming this? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Well, since FS publishes multiple types of books, certain ones are bound to be more popular than others. Their most recent Beowulf and The Wanderer sold pretty well - and fast - despite hem being ‘niche’ (to the general public) titles.

Now, these are limited edition Tolkien books. So they’ll DEFINITELY get more attention than what the FS would typically offer. Though their limited editions have often sold well and quick, on account of there being some book collectors out there for whom money is now object, or they have the income to grab an item of interest without hesitation once it appears.

I don’t believe FS publishes books so that third-party marketplaces can thrive

Olwe wrote:

I am not that knowledgeable on the history of the Folio Society but has it become a trend with the FS - since the ownership changes and probably since the last long-term chairman left in 2015 plus the changes from membership to your average online bookship? - to publish top tier limited editions that the general public can neither afford nor actually get because bookdealers the world over will buy copies of them to sell immediately afterwards with a hefty extra charge on Ebay?

I am not questioning quality publishing and the prices needed to produce these publications but there is a difference between doing high quality editions at a reasonable price and intentionally producing for - essentially - a luxury market. And that's what I am seeing with the Folio Society in recent years. Am I wrong in assuming this? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

When Folio society was last operating as a membership society, they were repeatedly on the brink of going out of business. People would say nice things about the books, but wouldn't buy them. I'm not sure what the problem is with producing editions for various markets, including luxury markets - lots of businesses do this. You can buy standard Folio editions or increasingly expensive editions -- it would be odd for them not to take advantage of a market that very clearly exists. Particularly with Tolkien, this won't last forever, as what goes up will - at least partially - come back down. There is a reason HarperCollins is throwing out editions at a mind-boggling rate right now.

Fantastic ! Cant wait to watch these :) thank you